Welcoming grandma into our virtual future

A virtual reality (VR) headset by the name of Oculus Rift made a big splash on Kickstarter[1], raising a stellar $2.43 million to get development kits into the hands and on the noggins of game developers. And now that the units have started to ship, people in the gaming community are getting treated to video after video of people wearing the goggles and trying to explain just how floored they are at the level of realism and immersion. Not too long ago, Paul Rivot, who works at Imagimind Studios in New York, uploaded a video to YouTube[2] of his 90-year-old grandmother trying out virtual reality for the first time.

Take a look:

Now, Paul’s grandmother is a charmer in her own right, but as you see her move her head back and forth, and marvel over the realism of details like leaves blowing in a 3D-generated world, it’s clear just how revolutionary this technology is finally becoming. Virtual reality has been around in the form of flight simulators for decades, and the military has used it to help train soldiers, but it’s never been good or cheap enough to “wow” the average consumer — and the grandmother in question certainly isn’t in the Oculus Rift’s target market.

A virtual reality (VR) headset by the name of Oculus Rift made a big splash on Kickstarter, raising a stellar $2.43 million to get development kits into the hands and on the noggins of game developers. And now that the units have started to ship, people in the gaming community are getting treated to video after video of people wearing the goggles and trying to explain just how floored they are....